A decade of documented mental health issues didn’t preclude John Russell Houser from purchasing a handgun from an Alabama pawn shop last year. That gun would later be used in a lethal assault against moviegoers during which Houser shot 11 people — two of whom died — before taking his own life.
A week after the move theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, information has surfaced about Houser’s checkered past and the missed opportunities for authorities to treat him and stop his attempt to buy a weapon. For instance, a report shows that the judge on Houser’s case could do nothing beyond recommend he undergo a mental health evaluation if necessary, despite family members’ warnings about his bipolar disorder and imminent danger to others.
A 1968 federal law prohibits the sale of handguns to those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility. However, procedures and situations that call for involuntary commitments vary between states, often confusing federal authorities about the steps that should be taken. Second Amendment advocates admit it’s a challenge to balance guaranteeing public safety and allowing gun owners to exercise their rights.
Even so, Muscogee County Probate Judge Marc E. D’Antonio, the chief clerk during Houser’s case, told the Washington Post that involuntary commitment could have alerted state and national law agencies to the danger Houser posed to himself and others: “If he had been adjudicated in need of involuntary treatment, I would have reported that to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who would then send it to the FBI,” D’Antonio said. “I clearly would have known. That did not happen.”
In the days after the theater shooting, lawmakers and mental health experts expressed similar sentiments. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) called for all states to include mental health information in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, telling Face the Nation’s John Dickerson that Louisiana already reports relevant data. During a press conference last week, Russell County Sheriff Health Taylor pointed out that budget cuts have weakened the quality of Alabama’s mental health care.
Though Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, warned against labeling all people with mental illness as dangerous, he told the Washington Times the recent mass shooting highlighted gaps in America’s mental health care system. “Forty percent of people with serious mental illness are going without treatment — our systems are fragmented and overburdened,” Swanson said. “When do we pay attention to this? We pay attention when there’s a horrifying mass casualty shooting, and then people say: Let’s fix the system.”
Fewer than 8 percent of American adults receive mental health services, most of which private insurance covers, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Today, more children and low-income and elderly people can access preventative mental health services through Medicare and Medicaid. Even so, out-of-pocket costs for inpatient and outpatient mental health services still remain high compared to that of a gun purchase — especially in non-Medicaid expansion states. Additionally, many states in the years after the Affordable Care Act’s passage haven’t been able to keep up with the demand for treatment among the mentally ill.
Mass shootings that made national headlines have provided some opportunity to critique the nation’s current mental health care system and rally for background checks that take one’s history of mental illness into account.
The Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, for instance, spurred lawmakers to work toward comprehensive mental health care reform — efforts that have since stalled. Authorities learned that long before convicted shooter James Holmes opened fire on moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado, he had a documented history of mental illness that included meetings with three mental health professionals and a report to the University of Colorado’s Behavior Evaluation and Threat Assessment team. This hot-button issue could also affect veterans. Ivan Lopez, the Iraq War veteran behind the mass shooting on the Fort Hood military base, also purchased a semiautomatic pistol with ease, despite his history of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The nuances of the mental health-gun safety link notwithstanding, mental health advocates argue that tackling this issue requires some acknowledgement that lawmakers should prioritize improving the U.S. mental health care system. However, many GOP lawmakers have failed to take concrete legislative steps in this area.
In 2008, GOP lawmakers voted 145–47 against the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act — a law that would require insurance providers to treat mental health services like those for physical health. In June, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) vetoed a bipartisan mental health bill that would allow doctors in the state to hold mentally ill patients who pose a danger to themselves and others for an additional four hours. Reports later surfaced that he did so out of a belief that mental illnesses don’t exist.
Some advocates argue such a lax attitude has prevented the appropriate reforms from taking place. During an interview with CBS News, Sen. Joe Machin (D-WA) criticized the National Rifle Association and other gun lobbyists for their part in his background check proposal’s defeat, saying that the Lafayette theater shooting illustrates why his GOP colleagues need to more seriously focus on mental health. If it passed, his 2013 legislation would have required background checks on all commercial sales of guns.
“I need my friends on the Republican side of the aisle to help us with a most reasonable, seasonable path forward,” Manchin said. “It’s not gun control, it’s just saying that, listen, if you go to a gun show, commercial transaction, we need to know who you are and if you’ve had a problem before, if you’ve been criminal or a mental problem. And if you go on the Internet. Those are two areas that we don’t have personal contact.”